Carnival Celebration buffet a mess

[Old Fart Cruisers]

Currently on board Carnival Celebration.  We went to the buffet for breakfast yesterday and found a total mess.  Food was being brought out, but there we no plates, no silverware, no coffee cups.  I saw people with a water glass full of scrambled eggs and and water glass with sausage 😳. 

 

Tables were not being cleared, and when a table was finally cleared the dishes were piled up high on other tables. There was plenty of staff, standing around, but not taking away any dishes.   I thought maybe the dishwasher was broken so they couldn't bring anything into the kitchen.   When I asked a server what was going on, he told me to talk to the hostess.  She did apologize, but said nothing could be done because they were having an inspection!  I said, so just to get this straight, you are having an inspection so you have to make sure everything is as screwed up as possible?   Her response was "all I can say is I'm sorry"  I asked again why an inspection would prevent anyone from cleaning up,  removing the dishes or bringing out clean dishes 🤔.   She just apologized again. 

 

One of the white shirts finally went around to all the servers and told them to cover all of the dirty dishes with napkins. 

 

The buffet lines were fully opened, fully staffed, just no dishes.   There were plenty of people to clean, but apparently they were ordered not to remove any dishes. 

 

Any ideas what kind of inspection could have prevented them from cleaning instead of causing increased cleaning. 

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Were you in San Juan or St. Thomas when you took these photos? They have been anticipating the surprise CDC/FDA inspection to show up any week now when they were docking in a US port. If that is the case I'm sure that's what the inspection is she was talking about. While it def interferes with the passenger operation the ship and crew cannot afford to miss easy points on that and they are definitely all focused on that. I have had Captains demoted and Staff Captains fired on ships I worked on from the results of these surprise inspections. When I was onboard the Celebration in December last they were already stressing waiting for them to show up. Regardless though they could still have some crew move those dishes aside. 

[Old Fart Cruisers]

18 minutes ago, ohioNCLcruiser said:

Were you in San Juan or St. Thomas when you took these photos? They have been anticipating the surprise CDC/FDA inspection to show up any week now when they were docking in a US port. If that is the case I'm sure that's what the inspection is she was talking about. While it def interferes with the passenger operation the ship and crew cannot afford to miss easy points on that and they are definitely all focused on that. I have had Captains demoted and Staff Captains fired on ships I worked on from the results of these surprise inspections. When I was onboard the Celebration in December last they were already stressing waiting for them to show up. Regardless though they could still have some crew move those dishes aside. 

 

We were in San Juan when I took the pictures.  These pictures are only a small sampling of the dishes piled up.  It would have made more sense to just close the buffet until they had clean dishes and someplace to put all of the dirty ones.  At least close off a section of it to store all of the dirty stuff. 

 

[crewsweeper]

Hazarding to guess but looks like a dishwashing machine failure.  If I were an inspector, I'd fail the ship for leaving dirty dishes around.

 

@Old Fart CruisersBy lunchtime or dinner, were there plates available?

 

[EngIceDave]

If I saw that, I would wonder what was happening, as it must be far more important, like maybe an emergency.

 

My initial reaction would not be to complain, but concern.

[pc_load_letter]

You should totally post this to John Healds FB page and see if you get a response. Would love to hear his song and dance on this mess (pun intended)

[hard_eight]

Was on the last sailing of the Celebration and this wasn't the case. Must be a dishwasher failure or something.

[barbatkins]

We are here on Celebration and experienced the same mess.  We got the last 2 plates….. and had nothing to drink because of no cups or glasses.

 

I don’t know what kind of inspection would pass the mess they had!

[Old Fart Cruisers]

I just asked another server what was going on yesterday.   He said they had a surprise inspection.  He said the kitchen is locked, all the equipment is shut down and no employees are allowed in during the inspection.  So that's why all of the dirty dishes were piled up until the kitchen was reopened.  He said they do it twice a year.  

 

I still think it would have made more sense to close the buffet and direct people to other dining options until the inspection was finished.   Or, at least tell people what is going on.  I could tell by the server's expression yesterday that some of them wanted to say what was going on, but were ordered not to say anything. While I understand that the cruise line doesn't have any say in when these surprise inspections occur, if they have at least let people know what was going on, there would have been a lot fewer angry customers. 

 

By the way, he said they pass the inspection with a score of 100%.  

[jam19872016]

I don't have experience with this type of inspection but similar ones. In my experience, the best scores were at locations that did dumb stuff like this in order to pass. 

 

The managers that learned what was being looked at and made sure they were perfect at all costs always did the best even if it meant literally closing the kitchen during meal service. 

 

Sad but true.

[Oceansaway17]

wow and this is a new ship!!!!!.  Must be a staffing issue.

Over on Celebrity there is a thread about Ocean view cafe having many options one week, and the next week greatly reduced by 75%.

The more I read, the less I want to cruise.  I think so much more drama and issues with everything is happening to all the cruise lines.  Well except Disney.

[jimbob22]

I'll make a note to byopp (bring my own paper plates) if I do the Celebration.

[Illbcruzn4life]

10 hours ago, ohioNCLcruiser said:

Were you in San Juan or St. Thomas when you took these photos? They have been anticipating the surprise CDC/FDA inspection to show up any week now when they were docking in a US port. If that is the case I'm sure that's what the inspection is she was talking about. While it def interferes with the passenger operation the ship and crew cannot afford to miss easy points on that and they are definitely all focused on that. I have had Captains demoted and Staff Captains fired on ships I worked on from the results of these surprise inspections. When I was onboard the Celebration in December last they were already stressing waiting for them to show up. Regardless though they could still have some crew move those dishes aside. 

And what exactly is or was your title where you had the captain demoted and you fired staff captains?

[jimbo5544]

There must be a full moon out tonite

[Guest BasicSailor]

17 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

There must be a full moon out tonite

So, do you think the staff is looking at the moon?😎

[jimbo5544]

3 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

So, do you think the staff is looking at the moon?😎

No, it appears the crew was doing everything it could to pass an inspection.  My comment was more on crew firings 

[Illbcruzn4life]

12 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

No, it appears the crew was doing everything it could to pass an inspection.  My comment was more on crew firings 

hard to tell what your comment was about without a quote from somebody. 

 

@OhioNCLcruiser comes back to elaborate.

[jimbo5544]

4 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

hard to tell what your comment was about without a quote from somebody. 

 

@OhioNCLcruiser comes back to elaborate.

One of my many faults…..As I become a more proficient poster, I hope to improve.

[Illbcruzn4life]

5 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

One of my many faults…..As I become a more proficient poster, I hope to improve.

If I was grading I'd say that that is your only fault so you're doing above average. As you learn the ropes of Cruise Critic I'm sure your proficiency will increase. You do need to practice since you only have 35,000 post. Enjoy your cruise on the Celebration.

 

Not Dave

[jimbo5544]

2 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

If I was grading I'd say that that is your only fault so you're doing above average. As you learn the ropes of Cruise Critic I'm sure your proficiency will increase. You do need to practice since you only have 35,000 post. Enjoy your cruise on the Celebration.

 

Not Dave

I shall give it my best shot (the cruise).  I do long for 50K, but the road is long, with many a winding turn, that leads who knows where, knows when.  Oh, how I wish I wrote great songs.  

[Guest BasicSailor]

Actually, I have noticed far worse than the photos posted here. But then again, I have had the pleasure of enjoying Carnival staff at their finest.  Just not at this current date. 

[ohioNCLcruiser]

3 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

And what exactly is or was your title where you had the captain demoted and you fired staff captains?

Sorry that poor wording is my bad. I did not personally have those people demoted and fired but they were my Captain and Staff Captains when our surprise FDA inspection resulted in horrendous scores. I will still *never* go into a hot tub on a cruise ship from what I have seen from those inspections. 

[ohioNCLcruiser]

7 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

I don't have experience with this type of inspection but similar ones. In my experience, the best scores were at locations that did dumb stuff like this in order to pass. 

 

The managers that learned what was being looked at and made sure they were perfect at all costs always did the best even if it meant literally closing the kitchen during meal service. 

 

Sad but true.

Yup and that was exactly what was happening in the OP's photos. You make the galley and dishwashing area perfect and then make it restricted access until the inspection is done. We even had crew only stairwells we knew the inspectors wouldn't find and we would throw any item down it from the buffet that might have dust or something on it. The plastic flowers etc.

 

At the time at Norwegian our General Managers were called Hotel Directors and we did not have anyone onboard with the General Manager position. Once we got word that the surprise inspectors were on the pier we would have an all ship PA announcement, including i side crew cabins, that said "Will the General Manager please report to the Front Desk" which was code to everyone that the CDC was boarding.

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, ohioNCLcruiser said:

Sorry that poor wording is my bad. I did not personally have those people demoted and fired but they were my Captain and Staff Captains when our surprise FDA inspection resulted in horrendous scores. I will still *never* go into a hot tub on a cruise ship from what I have seen from those inspections. 

Gotcha. Not a big fan of the hot tubs either!

[Joebucks]

I was on the Carnival Celebration last week, and this was far from the case. Sounds like whatever was going on, threw everything off. No need for a bunch of people to start worrying now.